Prelude to Paradise
by MissBesanii
Summary: Oftentimes we say goodbye to the person we love without wanting to. But that doesn’t mean that we've stopped loving them or we've stopped caring. Sometimes goodbye is a painful way to say I love you. AdvanceShip. You decide the minor shipping with Dawn!
1. Silence

**Prelude to Paradise.**

**Silence.  
**

Music runs through everything. A rhythm is alive. Our pulse, our footsteps, our breaths all work at a pace. The tempo may change, but there is always music in our life. Our body sleeps like the lullaby that sent us there, we love like the serenade used to express it. We fight with the drive of a vibrato growl, we run with the lightest staccato steps. We laugh, shout, cry and whisper in song, even our silence contributes to our innate rhythm. Listening to the beat is how to succeed, and he knew exactly how to do that.

* * *

"Aggron! Double Edge and then Iron Tail!"

"Water Pulse and then Aqua Jet to evade!" The little orange pokemon may have been small, but it was speedy and determined. It fired off a large water pulse that hit into the Double Edge. It then quickly fired it's water into the floor and blasted upwards where the Aggron could not reach.

"Now Sonic Boom!" The Buizel complied by tumble rolling towards the ground, flicking it's tail with the momentum and it's strength to form along wave of air that knocked the running Aggron off balance. Buizel landed just beside it.

"Another Aqua Jet!" The Sea Weasel pokemon pushed off the ground after charging up a stream of water that covered it completely and left a trail in its tracks. It collided into the giant armored beast and left it unconscious without a struggle.

* * *

"One step closer Ash." A girl dressed in a black tank, pink skirt and boots sang to her friend. Said friend grinned; "yeah, only two more battles." He was fairly small for his age, but his body was built well from long journeys. His hair, whilst a luxurious black, was a mess that he was only able to contain under his cap. His Pikachu, who sat perched on his shoulder, chimed its name in agreement and a similar expression of determination to its trainer.

The last of the trio chuckled, he was clearly older than the first two, his small eyes showed great wisdom, despite him being still quite young. His skin was a beautiful dark brown, and his spiky hair was just a few shades darker. The other two looked up to him both physically and socially. "Ash, don't forget who you're most likely up against."

Ash did not stir from his cheerful mood; "Oh I know Brock, I'll have to work really hard if I'm to defeat Paul, finally. Right now though, me and my pokemon need a rest."

"I couldn't agree more!" The girl cheered. She ran ahead of them, and Ash pouted; "Dawn! Wait up!" He set off running after her, leaving Brock to laugh for a moment, and then running to catch them both up and more importantly to see the beautiful and lovely Nurse Joy.

They slumped into the lounge chairs that had been vacated for a while. Ash sprawled out along the loveseat, while Dawn happily lay along the back of it. Brock took a comfy chair and rested his legs on an ottoman.

They watched the news as the presenter happily rang off several contest wins around Sinnoh. Dawn's name came up early on as she hadn't entered very recently. The more recent wins came closer to the end.

"Wow, Kenny only has to get one more badge!" Ash smiled, but noticed Dawn wasn't so happy about that; "So many people are going to be there, aren't they?" She worried, biting her fingernails. Ash looked over to Brock, who grinned.

"You know Dawn," he began; "May was just like you at this stage, and you managed to defeat her so early on. Surely that's enough to encourage you?"

Dawn smiled; "I guess so, thanks Brock." They continued to converse, but Ash had looked back to the TV. He didn't see anything, but it was enough to let the others know he wasn't paying attention. Despite his intentions of making himself relax, he found himself worrying. Surely May was at a similar stage to Dawn too now, in Johto. Alone. Was the Johto Grande Festival at the same time? He couldn't remember what she'd said last time he called. Would she be worrying too? This was her third try... He contemplated calling her to check she was okay, after all, he had promised her father he would look after her, which he was capable of when she was with him. He should still try to keep that promise even at a distance.

He stood sharply, his joints cracking in protest to his sudden movement. The other three looked at him curiously, but Pikachu was quick to join him as he walked through to the other side of the Pokemon Center. The two humans of his group did not follow, they were not so dependent on him that they needed to be in the same room.

"Pikapi?" His little mouse pokemon said in a questioning tone. Ash had become accustomed to know that the pokemon was saying his name with that collaboration of Pikachu's limited vocabulary. He smiled back to it and muttered; "I think I need to check up on May, see how she's doing." Pikachu frowned back, but said nothing else. It was not like his trainer to be so unfocused when his time was running out before such an important step in his career. The little electric type had always found humans strange, they had such a funny way of thinking, letting emotions rule their way of life. But ever since he's met Ash, he'd never found another person so close to a pokemon. His drive was to win, much as Pikachu's. They loved each other and nobody else could get in their way. Of course, there were other people they both loved, Brock and Dawn were huge parts of their lives. Misty who they missed so dearly... Then May and her brother Max. Pikachu had always found Max quite fascinating, being so young and intelligent. But it was May who was the person who was so similar to Ash, not at first, granted...

"Hello?"

"May! Good to see you!"

Pikachu jumped at the human exchange. It had become lost in thought. Ash must have already been directed to the correct Pokemon Center that May had been staying at. "Pikaa!" It called quickly.

"You too!" May called; "hello Pikachu." She added quickly.

Ash grinned; "How have you been?"

"Good thank you, I've been training for the Goldenrod contest all day! I'm exhausted!"

He took a seat on the stood just aside, settling for a good, long conversation. "How have they been going recently?"

"I've been busy, actually. Haven't entered one in a while. I only need one more ribbon, anyway..." She droned off, Ash frowned; "Why haven't you been entering? Aren't you cutting it close?"

She shrugged carelessly, causing Ash to frown even deeper. She sighed; "honestly, I've been really tired, and so have my Pokemon. We deserve a bit of a break, right?"

After a little contemplation, Ash finally answered; "right."

"Enough about me, have you got your final badge?"

He blinked in surprise, it had been a while since they'd spoken then. "I'm in the third round of the Sinnoh League, May."

"Oh." She blushed quickly; "Wow! That's awesome, Ash! I know you'll be fine, Mr Battle-Frontier-Winner."

He also went a bright red; "Thanks May." He dropped his eyes down and frowned again, thoughts drifting off into this up and coming round. It wasn't going to be quite as smooth running. Sure Nando and Conway had been challenging, but they weren't half as bad as Paul put together...

"What's wrong Ash? Nervous?"

He looked back up sheepishly; "a little."

"Well we all get like that..." May muttered sympathetically, but Ash grimaced; "It's not that... I'm kinda used to the whole League nerves..." He drifted off, ashamed to admit why he was even more nervous.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me the problem..." May persisted with her sweet, charming voice. Ash felt himself relax and be able to open up to her, carefree. She would not judge him, he trusted that.

"I'm up against Paul."

May tutted; "just because he's beat you before, doesn't mean you can't ever beat him."

"It's not that. I'm..." He sighed, irritated with his inability to explain; "I'm scared that _I'm_ going to let my pokemon down. He brings this anger that I can't control. What if I can't command my pokemon? He'll wipe them out in a second with no mercy."

He growled as if to further continue his point, he felt a fire ignite and rapidly spread from his core and around his limbs. His fingers contracted in protest. He inhaled deeply to try to cool himself.

She giggled, and he looked up in confusion. "Oh Ash!" She laughed; "do you remember back on Izabe Island?"

He nodded, not knowing exactly where she was heading.

"Do you remember what you said to me?"

He nodded again; "I said you were thinking too much, and that you had to focus on the match." He blinked in surprise as he saw how well the roles had been reversed.

"And what am _I_ going to say to you now? Or should I not bother?" She grinned, then rolled her eyes sarcastically; "gee, Ash. You should practice what you preach."

His face heated up, and in an attempt to scratch his head, he ended up slapping Pikachu instead. He apologised when Pikachu clutched desperately onto his collar and strangled him slightly. It scrambled back onto his shoulder and gave a short glare to Ash. May, in the meantime, had been squealing with laughter at the unpracticed slapstick comedy.

He tried his best to stay apologetic, much as Pikachu tried to stay irritated, but they both ended up laughing too. It took them a while before they sobered up to be able to talk again. Their stomachs hurt from contracting so frequently for such a long time.

May wiped a tear from her cheek and sighed out the last laugh; "I miss you so much Ash."

"Yeah, you too." He smiled; "if you can cheer me up over the phone, I could really do with you here."

She frowned; "Ash, you do this all the time. You know full well of your capabilities, so stop doubting yourself. Drew used to wind me up all the time, but now I focus, just like you said."

The name she mentioned caught him off guard. He didn't know why it should have, it made sense; she was around Drew a lot. He tried to force a smile as she began reeling off a recent story they'd shared. Something about an island. He tried to block it out, the fire had returned in his stomach and wasn't going away.

"Ash?"

It appeared she'd said it quite a few times, she looked irritated by his ignorance.

"Sorry," he muttered; "I just thought of a new technique I could teach Infernape."

"You have an Infernape?"

He blinked, snapping out of thought, the change of topic had calmed him considerably; "Monferno evolved."

"That's-"

A sudden crash came through the speaker, and May responded quickly by turning to face her right. If the Pokemon Center was a similar structure to the one Ash was in, she was looking towards the main entrance.

"Is everything alright, May?"

Quicker than she could respond, the lights went dark. He could hear her exclaim something over the crackle as they lost contact, leaving the screen blank. Ash stared for a while, then looked to Pikachu, who looked equally confused. Quickly, he punched in the number to the Ilex Forest Pokemon Center that she was staying at. It rang out a few seconds, and then a strange blue screen flashed up, explaining their call was out of reach. He hung up and tried again, only to receive the same horrible screen.

"Ash?"

He jumped to stand and landed with his back awkwardly pressed against the phone's keypad. Dawn was staring wide eyed at him, much as he was to her. "What's wrong?" She panicked, hurrying over. He sighed to calm himself, and walked back to the lounge with her.

"Show me some of your new designs for your Grande Festival dress." He pushed, she was shocked at his sudden interest in fashion, but nodded and led him to her note book. They sat together on the loveseat, and he tried his hardest to listen to her laugh about some impracticalities of one design. He nodded and added questions when he could, which she still found confusing, but answered them anyway.

"This one would look really good when I'm in battle, it'll flow so dramatically. Because you know it's not just the pokemon that's got to look good..."

He nodded, thoughts drifting off to May's outfit which also flowed dramatically back at the Wallace Cup. He felt suddenly sick. What if she was in trouble? He'd never get to see her again, never hear that story he'd ignorantly not listened to...

"And this one will match Piplup and Togekiss, because I think I might use them in a double battle. Don't you think they'd work well together? They're both so different. But they'd both be weak against electric types. Do you reckon after the league you could try and battle me with Pikachu?"

He nodded absently; "Why not Piplup and Quilava?" He muttered, thinking off May's Combusken and Squirtle combination.

She laughed; "You know they don't get along."

"But they will for you. They both love you." He pressed, trying to focus on Dawn's battle, and failing miserably. The fact that she brought May up made it worse; "I could use the combination Blaziken and Piplup did back at the Seven Stars Restaurant..."

He grumbled something incoherent, to which Dawn cocked her head; "What's wrong Ash? You've been acting weird ever since you left us earlier."

He stood up quickly; "Nothing. I'm just a little tired. Do you mind if I go to bed?"

She shook her head; "it's only half eight..."

He faked a yawn and stretched his arms above his head, careful to miss Pikachu this time. "Yeah, Conway's battle really beat the life out of me. I'll need my rest for tomorrow."

And rest did not come.

All night he tossed and turned, eve Brock had retired and fallen asleep before he even felt drowsy. He forced his eyes shut, trying not to think of May's possible scenarios. Not even the good ones. He shoved them aside and thought of the battle with Paul the following day, but that only brought May's words to the front of his mind; _You should practice what you preach._

He'd promised that he'd keep her safe, and now he had a feeling she wasn't. He wasn't doing anything about it. Worrying wouldn't solve anything. He hurried downstairs and back to the phones, trying once again. This time they rang out for a long while, until he gave up. No answer.

A menacing rapid tap made him jump and spin on his heels. He automatically reached for a Pokeball on his waist, to find he was wearing nothing but shorts. He looked straight at the window to find a pretty pattern fluttering in the dark. He didn't recognise it, but the colours were too bright to be scary. He carefully walked closer, and his vision cleared the closer he got.

"Beautifly?" He knew it was May's immediately, how could he not? Its wings glistened with pride only a coordinator would pull off. He quickly opened the window and it fluttered nervously around him. "How did you get here from Johto!?" He exclaimed, but it pushed its legs toward him. He noticed a small slip of paper wrapped under a ribbon. He untied it quickly and opened the note even quicker.

_Ash,_

_I don't have much time. Somebody is here, I think I'm in danger. I'm sending this to you because Beautifly knows where you are. Ring Drew, he'll find me._

He growled; "Drew?!" More seething words lashed through his mouth so much so that Pikachu arrived down the stairs. It stared at its trainer as he stormed around getting ready. "Drew! What good will a _Coordinator _do!?"

"What's wrong Ash?" Brock had awoken sleepily, and Dawn was in the process of orienting herself.

"May is in trouble."

Dawn blinked in surprise; "Is that her Beautifly?"

"Yes." He said sharply; "get ready if you're coming."

"Ash! What about the league?" Brock hopped off the top bunk to place a hand on Ash's shoulder. He simply met his gaze with a worried and angered glare; "What about it?!"

"You can't just abandon it." Dawn pleaded as she pulled on her hat.

Ash shrugged away; "watch me."

"Let me see that." Brock snatched the note away and it took just seconds for him to read it; "May thinks you should stay too. We can contact Drew now, and you can carry on with the league. She knows how important this is to you."

"You think I can concentrate on a battle when she's in danger!?" He rose his voice, flailing his arms to the sides in exasperation; "Brock, she could get killed!"

"I'm worried as much as you are, but you need to think about this."

Ash growled, it didn't seem like Brock cared enough. He continued to plead, ignoring Ash's rattled warning; "It'll take us a while to get to Johto, she could already be hurt by then. Drew is already near her. Don't you think it's more sensible to get him to find her?"

"I don't trust him! I made a promise!" He bit his lip as he tried to haul in the threatening emotions; "if she gets hurt, it's my fault. I promised I would look after her!"

"From what May said, Drew sounds like a decent guy." Dawn tried to help, but recoiled at the glare Ash shot at her.

"Why don't you ring Drew then. I'll be on my way to Johto." He headed for the door, holding his arm out for Pikachu to jump to. "Tell Paul I'm sorry." He slammed the door behind him and ran for the exit. He could reach Sunyshore docks pretty quick if he ran for the cable cars at the top of Victory Road.

He sat in the car, willing it mentally to move faster. There was nobody to slow him down, so why couldn't he go faster? It seemed like an eternity before he finally landed in Sunyshore. He ran once again to the port, a ferry was leaving in five minutes. He shoved more than enough money into the till operator's hand, and hurried up to the top deck.

"You don't think I'm being rash, do you?" He looked to his best friend for guidance, even if said best friend could reply with nothing more than a; "Peeka," and a shake of the head.

The ferry blew the horn to signal its departure, and the last sound of his name finally fought through the horn's noise. He knew exactly who it was, and so did not turn to greet them. They hurried to his side.

"You didn't think you could go without us, did you?" Dawn grinned at his side, her hair blowing in his face. Brock was smiling at his other side; "We'll get her together, promise."

He forced one side of his mouth to smile to show his gratitude as he hung his head; "Thanks guys, you're the best."


	2. Entrance

**So I guess I should stop being rude and introduce myself. **

**I'm Besanii Chan. I've been writing for over a year now, (not just here) and so this is my latest project. **  
**Advance Shipping is the first 'fic I ever read, so I am naturally bias.**  
**I'm not a fan of Pokeshipping, and I prefer Ikari to Pearl.**

**Let's get on with the show. :)**

**

* * *

**

**Entrance**

Silence and A Capella are two similar, but very different things. Both have different meanings, depending on interpretation. Silence does not need a friend, silence is content with the quiet loneliness. It is when he cries out his song in the hopes for a harmony, do the A Capella cries become a mourning.

* * *

"Cheer up Ash, we'll be there soon."

"Yeah, I bet you've missed Johto! We haven't been here in a long time." Brock added, smiling at Dawn who was also trying desperately to pull the frown off Ash's face.

Ash sighed; "You didn't even travel through Johto with me."

Brock frowned, but Ash did not look up to see, he didn't care that his best friend was trying to help. He wasn't the one who needed helping. He didn't care that his first friend walked off in defeat.

"Ash, that wasn't nice." Dawn scolded, though it gave no affect on the worrying boy who stood with half his body over the rail, half tempted to jump overboard and swim ahead. Dawn did not pay attention to this and continued talk; "you should calm down. May can handle herself. She's looked after herself this long, hasn't she?"

"Yeah and look where it got her." Ash barked, causing Dawn to jump. She frowned and thrust both hands on her hips; "Ash Ketchum! Just because you're upset doesn't mean you can take it out on me! I've done nothing wrong, and you should be grateful I'm here for support. I gave up my contest ribbons for her too, you know!"

He inhaled slowly, stood up straight and turned to her; "I didn't ask for your help, I said I was grateful, now I'd appreciate it if you left me alone!" His voice had quickly turned into a yell, causing the crowd within a large radius to stare over at him.

"If you want to save your precious May, fine, you can do it alone!" She leaned towards him to make her shout a little louder in his ears. It didn't deter him, he threw his hands up in despair; "Fine! I'll go ahead." He turned on his heels and ran for the Bow of the ship.

"Staraptor!" He called as he threw the pokeball halfheartedly. The worried bird pokemon stared at his trainer as he spoke; "do you think you're up to carrying me? I can see Johto." He pointed to the peak of Mt. Silver on the horizon, and Staraptor nodded, spreading its wingspan to allow Ash and Pikachu to climb on. Beautifly fluttered around him, ready to follow. He nodded; "You can lead us to where May was."

It nodded nervously, and they leapt for the ocean's skies.

It flew with ease on its strong wings. The wind was harsh on their faces, but they continued on towards the region.

It wasn't too long before he'd reached the shore. Beautifly pointed for the forest, and so Staraptor flew there, despite it's exhaustion. They landed, and the poor bird pokemon was panting. It was used to flying at such speeds, but not with something twice its weight riding it.

"Thanks Staraptor, we'll walk from here, and I'll find you somewhere to rest up. Okay?" He returned the pokemon as it was nodding, then turned to Beautifly; "This is where she was staying when I called her?"

It nodded furiously, then began to ascend the sky slightly to perform an aerial ace on the broken door. It wobbled open to allow Ash and Pikachu to enter. "Thanks."

He went straight to the phones, looking for the one May would have been sat at. He tried to remember what was behind her, but everything looked the same. There was only one with the receiver dangling from the phone, so he assumed that must have been where May was sat, but she'd left nothing.

"Do you know which room she was in?" He turned to Beautifly, and it tilted its head to the side in confusion. Pikachu also asked in their language, but Beautifly shook its head. Ash sighed; "maybe Nurse Joy had it written down somewhere."

He suddenly realised how quiet it was in the center. There was nobody, the place was deserted. Which was unusual even for the most isolated centers. Nurse Joy did not respond to his calls, and he wondered why there was nobody else searching for her.

"I better ring Officer Jenny." He muttered, but Pikachu shook its head, pointing to the broken phones again. "We'll search the place first, while we can." Pikachu agreed, and they hurried to the desk. He found the list that Joy had conveniently written out, scanned for May and ran for the room. Pikachu had to iron tail the door down, but they got into the dull, themed room.

"Look around Pikachu."

They both did so, and only Pikachu found May's bandanna. It was not the one Ash was used to, the red he'd spent years looking at, but her new green one that she'd worn when they were on the phone. He pictured her looking happy just before the incident, just to calm himself. She'd grown a little taller since the last time they were on the phone, and her hair had grown longer so it began to curl just like her mother's.

"Chuu...?"

Ash blinked, looking down at Pikachu, who was holding the green material in its mouth. He took it gratefully, and gripped it in his fist. When he saw it against his pale skin of his fingers, rather than Pikachu's yellow fur, he couldn't help but get a strong feeling of jealousy. He frowned at the sharp pang in his stomach, it had happened when he'd spoken to her, and it wasn't normal.

"Goldenrod." He suddenly burst out loud, and startling Pikachu and Beautifly. "Drew's gonna be there." He confirmed, stuffing the bandanna into his pocket and running for the door. "He might know something that can lead us to May," he added reluctantly, the sharp pain twisted angrily; "We can call Officer Jenny from there too."

They ran through the forest, battling only one trainer who had only one Pokemon and winning pretty easily. It took what seemed an eternity to reach the city, but he relaxed as soon as they were in an urban area. So much of the place looked familiar, but he realised he had no clue where the contest hall was.

"Uhh, I think we need to stop off at the Pokemon center, so we can ask for directions..." He turned in the right direction, but Pikachu tugged at his collar, pointing to the police station. "Good idea." He muttered, changing his direction for the blue building. Inside, there was only the receptionist at the desk. Everything appeared calm; "can I help you?" She asked happily, and Ash walked over to the desk.

"I need to talk with Officer Jenny." He said quickly, scanning the room again. The woman looked apologetically to him; "She's out training her newly evolved Arcanine at the moment, would you like me to leave a message?"

"The Pokemon Center in Ilex Forest has been broken into, and there's nobody there." He frowned, wondering whether to tell her about May. She had said they'd only come for her... But what if that wasn't true, and May managed to escape? They'd be wasting their time looking for a missing girl, and her parents and Max would get upset, and it would be his fault... He couldn't bring himself to break the promise he'd made...

"I'll call her and she'll investigate immediately. Thank you for coming straight to us." She said quickly, as if recited.

Ash bowed his head; "You're welcome. Do you need me to stay?"

The woman smiled; "no, you can go to do whatever you came here for. Challenging Whitney?" The woman guessed, looking at Pikachu and Beautifly.

"Already have that badge." He replied automatically, pride swelling in his chest. He suddenly remembered why he actually had come here; "actually, I was wondering whether you could tell me where the contest hall was? I haven't been here since it was built."

"Certainly," the woman smiled, bending under her desk and producing a map. She opened it and handed it to him; "it's just here. Right near the radio tower. Can't miss that, right?"

"Right. Thank you, Miss."

"You're welcome, goodbye!" She grinned as he walked back to the street, hurrying through the crowds. They also seemed to be rushing to the contest hall. The whole coordinator thing must have still been a novelty here. They chattered endlessly about the previous contests, most of them talking of the same coordinators. He heard Drew himself be mentioned a few times, but not once May.

He reached the doors, eventually, and hurried for the coordinators room. It was where most were, in such a themed hall, and so he didn't have much trouble finding it. The trouble came to getting in.

"May I see your Contest Pass, please?"

He frowned and dug into his pockets; "I only have a Sinnoh pass." He explained sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, but this contest is full today, I can issue you a Johto pass, but you will not be able to enter." The woman replied apologetically. Ash smiled; "I don't want to enter, I just need to see my friend, it's important."

The woman shook her head; "Sorry, we've had too many people asking to see the coordinators," by the way she hesitantly used the plural, Ash came to assume it was only _one_ coordinator in particular. He could guess who; "...and they have to concentrate to put on the best show possible. You may see your friend afterward."

He bowed his head; "Thank you anyway." He walked away, muttering curses under his breath, gaining a few looks. The audience were making their way to the stands, so the main entrance was emptying. He walked out and followed the wall around, determined to get what he wanted before the contest began. He didn't want to waste time, he couldn't have fun when his best friend was in trouble. Eventually, he reached a patterned window that only let him see blurred colours. Of course, it wasn't a problem when his search was of a brightly haired friend.

"Drew!" He bellowed as he banged onto the glass, he saw the green blob startle, and hurry to the window. It opened, and it was just about small enough for him to climb through.

"Ash?"

Pikachu slid in after, along with Beautifly, who fluttered through with ease.

He was wearing a pair of navy suit trousers, striped vertically to make his already lengthened legs look longer. He also fashioned a smart light blue shirt with the top button undone, and his sleeves rolled up. Alone with a pair of navy braces.

"What brings you to Johto?" Drew smiled, all too friendly for Ash's liking. He couldn't understand why, he'd never had a problem with Drew before. He'd always accepted how better looking he was, how charming he could be. How May was around him. The green haired and eyed boy looked at him like an old friend, pleased to see him. Ash couldn't respond so friendly when all he wanted to do was walk back out again and tell him to go away. He ignored the urge to shout; "I think May's in trouble."

"What makes you say that?" Drew perked up quickly, suddenly even more interested. Ash's nose wrinkled as his stomach twisted uneasily. He had to force himself to answer civilly; "She sent me a note with Beautifly, and I was on the phone to her when the power went off. I think she's the one who's targeted. I was wondering if you knew of anything."

Drew frowned; "I haven't seen her for a while. She hasn't entered."

"She said." Ash kept his answer short, unable to keep the weird tone out of his voice. Pikachu quirked its head to the side in confusion to this strange emotion it picked up on.

"Well, the last time I saw her was in Cianwood City, we'd gone there together for the contest." Drew frowned, concentrating.

"You didn't stay with her?"

Drew shook his head; "She wanted to go back to Azalea town, I said I would go with her, but she refused and told me to carry on with my contests. So I went on through the Whirl Islands. She said it was so we'd both get a chance at the Grande Festival, but I didn't know whether I believed her even then. Now you're just making me more suspicious."

Ash growled suddenly; "And you didn't make sure she was alright? How could you leave her if you were suspicious?"

"She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself." Drew defended, backing up slightly. "If you don't think she is, why did _you _leave her?"

Ash stopped short, unable to retaliate. Because what Drew had said was true, either way, he was responsible for this. May was in trouble because he wasn't there to stop it. Still, he couldn't help the feeling of wanting to hit Drew, despite the noticeable difference in height.

"I can come with you, if you like?" Drew's voice quickly turned back to a reasonable tone, but Ash glared up quickly; "no, that's fine. You carry on with your contest."

Drew frowned; "I'd rather know May was safe, actually."

"Well, can you meet Dawn and Brock at the harbor? That way you still have time to finish this, and then find them. I'll send Beautifly when I've found something." Ash replied, not wanting Drew as company at all.

The coordinator did not look too pleased, but he sighed; "fine, but I'll be searching on Flygon if you don't reply soon."

"Fine." Ash spat, slipping out the window again. Though his stomach still twisted when he turned back to look at Drew, his conscience reminded him of Drew's kindness, and guilt set in. "Thanks Drew, I'll find her soon."

"I know, if I didn't think you could, I wouldn't be staying here." Drew smiled, pleased by Ash's change. He forced a smile to grace his lips, and then took Pikachu up on his shoulder, ready to begin the search once more.


	3. Tuning

**Thank you for your kind reviews!  
Sorry for quite the gap, life is consuming me with lots of stuff, so I'm rather busy and this comes last I'm afraid.  
Though it's always going through my head, damnit. XD **

**Tuning.  
**

It's easy enough to be pleasant, when life flows along like a song; But the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong.

* * *

Azalea town wasn't much help. He asked around, only a few remembered her from the last contest. He took his tired Staraptor to the Pokemon center as he continued the search. Even Nurse Joy couldn't put a face to the name. He sighed in defeat, finding himself at a dead end again.

"Beautifliiieeeee!" The usually quiet bug type perked up once they passed another building. Ash looked up; "Bugsy's gym?"

Pikachu nodded, clearly understanding what Beautifly was talking about. Ash nodded; "Let's ask." He walked through, being immediately jumped by a bug catcher; "A challenger!" The young boy squealed, quickly fumbling for his pokeball. Ash held his hands up in defence; "I'm not here to challenge Bugsy, I already have the badge!"

"Prove it!" The boy growled in his high pitched voice.

"Uhh..." Ash checked his pockets, but already knew he didn't have his Johto badges with him. He'd left them in a case back in Pallet Town.

"I'm afraid you have to battle me, if you're lying."

He sighed, but looked to Pikachu anyway. It was a waste of what little time he had, but if it would get him to Bugsy, he knew it was necessary. His little mouse pokemon hopped down and readied itself.

"Go! Beedrill!" The boy cried, clearly so excited due to his lack of experience. Ash felt his mind click into battle mode, and his whole self became completely focused on the challenge.

"Quick attack!" He growled, testing the Beedrill's speed before wasting energy. The Beedrill moved aside with ease, but wasn't expecting Pikachu to bound off the wall and attack its wings instead. It crashed onto the ground from Pikachu's weight, and countered with tailwind to blow its opponent away.

Ash smiled, wind didn't matter when lightning struck. "Thunder!"

"Peekaah!" His partner complied, charging in a magnificent display of electric crackling, ready to be pointed in the correct direction. The Beedrill shrieked in pain, and its trainer cried out too. Pikachu released the attack and set off running, knowing a physical attack came next without Ash saying a word.

Ash grinned; "Iron tail!"

Pikachu briskly dodged a twin needle attack and jumped forward toward the target, it rolled in the air to slam its charged and glowing tail onto the Beedrill's head, sending it to crash onto the floor and render it out of energy to battle.

The boy cried out his pokemon's name again, cradling it in his arms. He then looked up at Ash with wide eyes; "That was amazing."

"Thanks." Ash frowned; "can I go past now?"

The boy blinked and then nodded, shuffling aside while withdrawing Beedrill to rest. Ash bowed his head as he passed out of respect, then hopped onto a spinarak-shaped boat that took him straight to an open field used for battling.

"Ash!?"

He turned to his left, towards the voice of the gym leader of Azalea, Bugsy. He was grinning under his mass of purple hair, on hand pushing a bang back, the other propping up a pretty Butterfree.

"A Scizor, this must have been Scyther, right?" Ash laughed as the Scizor nodded eagerly, waving its giant red claw. Beautifly fluttered past Ash and straight to Bugsy, who held out the other arm for it to land on.

"What a beautiful Beautifly, I didn't know you groomed your pokemon so well. Of course, with such a gorgeous bug type, who wouldn't?" Bugsy admired it as it began to fly again, dancing around the Butterfree as they played. The problem was, Ash noticed it looked too well rehearsed to be a first greeting. He looked down to the gym leader, who was admiring them too, with an odd combination of slanted eyebrows and smiling lips.

Ash's eye's narrowed, but he kept his voice light; "It's not mine, I'm looking after it for a friend. She's gone missing and she was here recently."

"What's her name?" Bugsy asked quickly, the smile leaving just a frown on his face. Ash watched him as he spoke her name; "May, she's a coordinator."

Bugsy coughed, earning a couple of taps on the back from his Scizor. He thanked it and turned back to Ash; "Sorry, I don't know her. She wouldn't come in here, would she? Plus I'd remember a pretty Beautifly like this one."

Ash sighed, deciding to leave it at that, rather than interrogating him further; "Thanks anyway."

"Good luck." Bugsy sighed, waving as Ash turned. His voice was drenched with remorse, and slight regret. Ash didn't turn back as he hopped onto the boat and let it take him to the exit.

The young boy looked up and blinked in surprise to see Ash passing him again; "I didn't realise Gym Leader Bugsy was free, did you win?"

"I didn't come for the badge. Was there a trainer before me?" Ash asked, perking an eyebrow as he walked for the exit. The boy followed too; "Well, there was a man who came in with a bug net that's really compact. About the size of a flute! He told me it caught some really big pokemon too!"

Ash shrugged; "I didn't see him."

"Oh, well it was nice to meet you, and thanks for the battle!"

"Thank you, and good luck with your training." Ash waved, waiting momentarily for the sliding door to fully open, then exiting and turning for the Pokemon Center to pick up Staraptor.

* * *

"I don't get it, why would Bugsy lie?"

"Pikachu..."

After they'd left, Pikachu had confirmed through Ash's series of questions that Butterfree and Beautifly had met before, and the dance wasn't happy, but frantic. They couldn't understand it, but something was clearly out of line. They were missing something vital that put the pieces together, and would lead them to May.

Pikachu sniffed the air, hopping to the ground and doing so again. Beautifly fluttered too, then sped ahead. Pikachu pointed in that direction and yelped its name to get Ash's attention.

"What's wrong?!"

He ran after them, finding that they wound up near the Slowpoke well. It had been fixed up quite a bit, and shrines of Slowpoke had been placed around the entrance to the well in honour of Azalea town's favourite pokemon.

"Choo..."

He looked down to his feet, where his mouse pokemon stood staring at something muddy, but pink. He picked it up, shaking off the dirt and water, revealing itself to be a pink heart-shaped petal. When he looked back down to the ground, there were more of them, camouflaged with earth and the rain from the past few days.

"These are Venusaur's Petal Dance petals." Ash couldn't mistake May's signature move, nobody formed that attack quite like it. He suddenly felt like he'd been punched, and heaved slightly. "May must have been-" He was suddenly interrupted by several pokemon squealing in pain, including Pikachu and Beautifly, who were physically unharmed. He dropped to his knees and picked up his pokemon; "What's wrong?! What's wrong, Pikachu!?"

The crying pokemon held its ears to its cheeks and sighed with relief. It looked up to Ash and then pointed to the well.

"Stay here and help Beautifly, I'll be right back."

He wandered over to the wells edge, staring down to the dark pit. The wails of Slowpoke had ceased. He bit his lip as he reached for the fourth pokeball on his belt, releasing Infernape. "Fancy coming down a well?"

His ape pokemon stared sourly at the dark hole, hearing faint water rushing along somewhere. It sighed and nodded, climbing down the hole.

Ash called down as he climbed; "If you hear anything, hold your ears quickly, it's annoying the pokemon."

"Nape!" It cried out nervously.

Once down the bottom, they began walking carefully at the well's edge, Infernape especially careful not to go near the water as it held its tail high in the air to light their path.

"I don't see anything..." Ash complained, he couldn't help but think this was a waste of precious time. He didn't have too long to mope before the cries began again, and he quickly clamped his hands over Infernape's ears, but wasn't fast enough to beat the silence that sent his pokemon berserk. It thrashed suddenly, tripping towards the lake. With split second decisions, Ash pushed Infernape away from himself, knowing it would rather endure the noise than the water of a well. He crashed into the water himself, smacking into the bottom with force, and having to push on the floor to reach the surface in time to breathe.

"Inferrr!" The pokemon cried happily, wiping the worry from its face and spreading relief instead. Ash smiled weakly in an attempt to comfort his pokemon, but was quickly interrupted by it blasting fire towards him. He shouted incoherently, but didn't notice the flamethrower was off aim, towards an ice beam that had been heading for him in a different direction. The attacks collided, the latter being vastly overwhelmed by it's weakness.

"Whoa, thanks." He sighed, receiving a salute from Infernape as it set off to attack whatever had been attacking them. "Probably some Slowpoke..." Ash mumbled. He rounded the corner to find his assumptions partly correct, as several Slowpoke glared at him, one holding a strange object to which it blew into and all the pokemon began to cry out again. He ran for the main Slowpoke, yanking the flute object from its grasp.

"Infernape! Now!" Ash cried, turning to run as Infernape set off with a huge flamewheel and flamethrower combination. "Let's get out of here!" He yelled, as Infernape began to run behind, pausing periodically to blast the attacks away. They climbed the ladder and hurried into the forest, past Pikachu and Beautifly, who hurried after them.

Once they were far enough, he collapsed on the ground, and his Infernape did likewise next to him. He looked over and chuckled; "Thanks Infernape, take a rest." He pointed the pokeball at it as it smiled and disappeared.

"Oof!" Ash gasped as Pikachu landed on his stomach and rushed all the air out of his lungs. It tilted its head curiously, and Ash knew exactly what it wanted; "hungry, huh?"

Both of the remaining pokemon nodded, and Ash began setting up camp whilst leaving them to eat. He pulled out his sleeping bag and sat on it as the fire rose and the sun set. He picked a long stick from a tree to poke the fire, which eventually became an absent minded thing.

"Pika-Pikachu..."

"Yeah, I'm worried too." He sighed as he looked down to his first friend who sat staring up at him on his lap. "She's my best friend, how could I not be? I just hope she's strong enough to keep going until we find her."

"Chaa..." The electric mouse pokemon grumbled worriedly, but yawned and settled down to looked up to Beautifly, who was staring at the fire whilst sitting in the trees above them. It shook, frightened.

"Best get some sleep, Beautifly, we're moving at first light tomorrow. We'll find her, I promise." He forced a smile and his determined tone to come out, and the bug type nodded. He realised that Beautifly had known May nearly as long as he had himself, and that it must be very worried too. He shuffled into his sleeping bag and patted the top; "Why don't you come and sleep with us?"

It sang its name sadly, vibrato showing how truly scared it was. It fluttered over and rested on Ash's lap as he put out the fire.

* * *

Light came sooner than he'd hoped. His eyes stung as the sun peeped into them, unleashing red brightness through his eyelids. Carefully, he opened them, then closed them to let his eyes adjust. He felt Pikachu stretch beside him, and the weight on his legs was lifted, the weight became a shadow across his face as he could open his eyes again. Beautifly fluttered in front of the sun, smiling at Ash.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching his limbs out. It was oddly quiet, but he assumed that was because Dawn wasn't there to squeal about how her hair had turned out. Even so, he couldn't deny that he missed it. He looked around, nobody was there, only the same pink petals charred and covered with dust.

"She must have tried to escape her captor, and the captor must have dropped this." He pulled the flute out of his bag. Pikachu's ears dropped; "Pika-Pika..." It grumbled and backed away from the instrument.

"Better close your ears." He warned, bringing the flute to his lips. The silence was interrupted by the screams of pain from awakened pokemon in the vicinity. He stopped quickly and awaited a response. After there was none for quite some time, he examined it further.

"This looks like Melody's, remember Pikachu?"

"Chu!" It growled, clearly unimpressed by the torturous item.

Ash smiled and continued to look; "If I remember correctly, Melody twisted this bit..." He blew into the flute again, this time hearing the noise for himself, but it was a calm, airy sound that received no pained responses from any of the pokemon. After a few moments, several pokemon gathered around him, common ones for the area; Furret, Sentret, Hoot Hoot...

"Pikachu," he whispered; "ask inf anyone has seen May."

Pikachu nodded, then turned and began speaking in their language that only sounded like a sequence of its name to Ash. One Furret stepped forward hesitantly, and began murmuring its name in reply. Pikachu nodded and seemingly thanked it as it began to run into the forest. Ash whipped up his sleeping bag and followed it quickly, his heart racing with the idea of finding May, hopefully safe.

He saw Pikachu stop in front of him, and skidded to a halt too. The Furret was pointing at something lay across a tree root, but avoided it completely. Ash recognised it immediately; "May's glove!" He cried, hurrying over and kneeling beside it. He gingerly picked it up when he realised blood was specked all over it, though his whole body coursed with anger at the idea of somebody hurting his friend. The two pokemon behind him were reacting similarly, until Pikachu exclaimed its name and pointed at the root. Ash looked; "It's an arrow! May must be leading us in the right direction!"

And without saying another word, they began running in that direction.

* * *

"This is Cheerygrove city. It's changed a lot since the last time we were here, right Pikachu?" He looked to his shoulder, where his pokemon had perched, it nodded in agreement, but continued looking for the red roofed Pokemon Center.

"Pika!" It yelled, pointing at center, Ash smiled and headed there, to find a Nurse Joy with folded arms and an eyebrow raised.

"You're Ash Ketchum, no?"

Ash blinked, startled; "Yes, I am."

"You left your Staraptor in Azalea town! How could you be so irresponsible!?" The woman thrust her hands to her hips, then pulled a pokeball out of her pocket.

Ash grimaced sheepishly, taking the pokeball; "I'm sorry, I totally forgot. There was a strange happening down at Slowpoke well."

"I heard, just be thankful that the Joy there guessed where you were going."

"Thank you, Nurse Joy." Ash bowed, frowning slightly with impatience. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me?"

The Nurse Joy brightened immediately; "Of course."

"I'm looking for an old friend, her name is May and she's a coordinator."

The woman pouted for a moment, placing a finger at her lip as she thought; "Oh yes, I remember. The girl whose friends with Lyra."

"Lyra!?" Ash blinked with surprise.

Joy smiled; "Yes, they made friends here and left for Goldenrod together."

Ash had to work to keep the scowl off his face, knowing May never reached Goldenrod city. Instead he nodded; "Do you know where Lyra is now?"

"I can call the other Nurse Joys to find out?"

"Please." Ash smiled, relieved a new opening had become apparent. He went to sit down as he waited for a reply. It took around quarter of an hour, time he wished he could be spending searching for May, but knew he could get some information of Lyra. Joy came through with a pokeball containing Infernape and smiled; "Lyra is heading for Ecruteak city, and if you hurry, you might bump into her there. I've informed the Joy there so she knows to tell Lyra that you're looking for her."

"Thank you so much!" Ash grinned, bowing once more and hurrying out of the center. He knew that if he hurried, he could probably make Ecruteak before sundown. He pressed his feet into the pavement and set off, hoping this new lead wasn't another dead end.


	4. Chatter

**Chatter**

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

* * *

Violet City came into view quicker than he'd expected, the morning breeze had given him the energy to move quickly, even with Pikachu sat on his shoulder. Once he came to the entrance of the city, he scanned the rooftops for the Pokemon Center, and ran for the brightly lit red sign.

"Well shrink me down and call me Kirlia."

He grinned and spun to the voice, knowing who would be there immediately; "Hey Lyra, good to see you."

"You too, Nurse Joy told me you were chasing me down." She pressed her cheek into her shoulder coyly, suppressing a blush as she looked at him from under her cap.

Ash blinked, unfazed by her flirting due to lack of experience; "Yeah, I've been looking all over Johto for-"

"That's so sweet!" She purred, advancing towards him without listening to the end of his sentence that he'd cut off politely. She walked closer, curling a lock of hair around her index finger. He stepped aside and gestured to the seating area, to which she replied with a short, confused smile.

He dropped himself onto the love-seat, identical to the ones around Johto, and she carefully placed herself next to him, closer than casually. This, being not so oblivious to the obvious moves, caught Ash's attention. To which he blushed in reaction, leaning away from her slightly so as not to offend her.

"You know," she smirked gently; "ever since I've come back to Johto, I've been missing you."

He hummed; "Me, Dawn and Brock miss you too." He made sure to make a point of not wanting to be singled out, which hadn't worked, but it had at least changed the subject.

"Come to think of it, where are they?" She looked to the entrance expectantly, an expression across her face that Ash couldn't understand, for he was unfamiliar with the strange emotion.

He shrugged; "They're in Johto, but I went ahead while they stayed on the ferry."

Her face lit up; "So it's just you and me then?"

"Yeah," he chuckled nervously, leaning 'casually' against the sofa's corner. "but you have to count Pikachu, right?" The sleeping pokemon opened its eyes gently, whispering its name in confusion and then falling back to sleep on the chair near the television. Beautifly was lying over Pikachu, acting like a blanket with its beautiful wings, but did not stir. Lyra chuckled; "You can't count sleeping pokemon."

"Who says so?" He demanded playfully; "me and Pikachu are always counted together."

She sighed; "Well then," she leaned over quicker, leaving him no place to move away to; "wouldn't that count you as one?"

"Touche..." He stammered, craning his neck in the closer she got. She lingered right next to his face, her lips perilously close to his. Her hand moved slowly up his side and to his hair, playing with it until she finally giggled.

"Oh Ash! You're so funny!" She whipped up his cap and pulled off hers too, switching them over; "I always did like your cap. What do you think?" She posed with it slightly twisted to one side, her hair flicking out from under it.

He stared wide eyed at her, slightly shocked at what had just happened, so quickly too. He eventually laughed too, snatching back his cap; "stick to white and poofy, it suits your personality. _Up in the clouds._" He retorted, to which she laughed too; "Aha, good one. So what you doing in my side of the world?"

He frowned; "It's my side too."

She waved her hand, dismissing his remark to make him continue. He sighed and adjusted his cap; "I'm looking for my friend, May. She's been missing for a couple of days now..." Every time he told the story, he would feel more sick each time. Like the kick in his stomach was getting stronger and twisting him in odd ways.

"You know May? What's wrong with her!"

"I've known her longer than I've known Dawn, and she just suddenly disappeared." He explained, Lyra clasped her hand over her mouth; "That's terrible, and I haven't seen her in ages either! I hope she's okay!"

Ash sat up, happy he was finally getting somewhere; "where was the last place you were with her?"

"Back in Cherrygrove, I watched her win a contest there. Her appeal was fascinating. She used this amazing sing and blizzard combination with her Skitty..."

Ash interrupted her; "sing? That's not like May..." He frowned, remembering how May's appeals were usually physical attacks, blending together to create amazing appeals. He also thought of the flute in his pocket, relating them together and unable to accept them as a coincidence.

"Ash, what's happened to May? We need to find her!"

Ash blinked back to the conversation, shaking his head slightly; "no, you carry on with your journey, I'm moving pretty fast alone and I think I'll find her quicker. I need your help though, was there anything suspicious, did she say anything to you before you parted?"

Lyra frowned down to her lap; "Come to think of it, she was acting quite odd, but I thought that was just her personality."

"May's not the type to make herself stand out for the wrong reasons." Ash sighed; "Has there been anything strange happening about sounds or music recently in Johto?"

Lyra nodded; "two hikers got attacked by a flock of Golbat and Zubat in the Dark Cave, and there are sound waves influencing them." Ash looked to Pikachu, the image of its tortured face haunting him. He shook his head again and smiled; "Thanks Lyra, could you do me a favour?"

"Anything, handsome."

He blushed, but continued with the conversation; "If you bump into Dawn or Brock, can you tell them where I am headed?"

"Sure thing, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" She pouted, as if wanting to join him. He shook his head; "Thank you for the offer, but I best be on my way."

She sighed; "Be safe, Ash, don't do anything stupid."

He smiled; "You too, Lyra, bye."

* * *

"Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since we were here."

"Pikah-Pikah."

Ash sighed; "We'll have to come back once we've found May, I'm sure she'd love to see the da-" He paused when he caught sight of the dance theater, its door hanging open. Even at a distance, he could see that there was destruction in the room. He hurried over without a second thought, creaking the door open. He scanned the room, receiving multiple suppressed gasps.

"What happened?" He asked quickly, catching sight of one kimono girl lay across the floor, the other girls crowded around her. An Umbreon sat secluded in the corner, it eyed the unconscious girl constantly. The smallest girl stood up, shuffling over to him. Her white face make-up had been scarred with black tear tracks, much like the other girls. Her hair was pulled at one side, as if it had been gripped, and her sleeve was torn.

"Young sir, it was terrible!" She cried, throwing her arms around him.

He hugged back sympathetically, patting her gently; "who did this to you?"

She stiffened and moved away; "I cannot tell you."

He frowned; "Why not? Whoever did this needs to be reported!"

"I _cannot_ tell you." She moved her eyes to Umbreon quickly, and back to Ash. Ash frowned, slowly reaching for a pokeball at his waist. Pikachu watched, unsure of what he was doing.

"Infernape! Mach Punch!" The pokemon materialised and ran at blinding speed towards the Umbreon. It dodged with a quick movement too, tackling it from the side.

"Now Scratch it, then follow up with another Mach Punch!"

The Umbreon, without a trainer, concentrated on the first attack, unable to dodge the second, super effective one. It was knocked out quickly, none of the girls rushed to help it.

"Thank you." The young Kimono girl whispered; "the pokemon are not themselves. We are afraid of what he might do next."

"Who? Did he have a girl?"

She nodded sadly; "she tried to fight him, as did we, but it went dark and all we heard was music. The lights went back up, and he was gone with her. Then Zuki's Umbreon attacked us. Our pokemon were already fainted."

Ash frowned; "What did he want?"

"He took the Rainbow Wing, an artifact we protected for Johto. We are shamed in our defeat." Another girl stood and spoke up, still eying the Umbreon. It hadn't moved since they'd left it. Infernape stood close and ready.

He couldn't help but feel a growl rattle through his chest, the closest girl, the only one who could hear, flinched away from him.

"So what does it do?"

Another of the girls stood up, leaving the last, and the oldest of those conscious to tend to the wounded girl. "We fear he is hunting for Ho-oh, but he cannot reach it without the Clear Bell."

_If May's been obsessed with sounds, I wouldn't put it by her if she knows about this. _Ash thought, before speaking up; "I think he already has it."

"Pika?"

"Then you must hurry, he will not be able to enter the Bell Tower, but he may reach another high point in Sinnoh to call for Ho-oh. Head east, the Dark Cave will be the way he would go."

Ash nodded, his suspicions informed from Lyra had been confirmed by the final Kimono girl's words. "Withdraw Umbreon, and find Officer Jenny. I'm going to stop this."

"What is your name?" The youngest of the girls asked, to which Ash replied with his usual introduction of full name and home town.

"Safety be upon you, Ash. For if he succeeds in luring Ho-oh, you will need all the luck you can reap." She whispered, bowing to him deeply; "and thank you for helping us in our hour of need."

"You're welcome." He turned for the door, and began sprinting for the Dark Cave.

* * *

"Sorry, sir. You cannot pass through here." A large man stood at the Dark Cave's entrance, and Ash knew that every other entrance would be blocked too.

He scowled back, which was extremely unlike him; "You don't understand, I _have_ to go through there."

"Sorry, sir." The man repeated; "But there has been some incidents-"

Ash growled; "I'm well aware. I'll be careful."

"You cannot take Pokemon in there, sir. Nor can you go in without Pokemon. I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the problem has gone."

He could feel his stomach twist even further that it became crippling, he dropped down onto his knees, earning a worried look from the man. "Sir? Are you alright?"

Ash gasped a little, not sure what was wrong, but he balled around his stomach anyway. It wasn't until he heard a huge thump did he realise that Beautifly had learnt Secret Power.

"Good one." He complimented the bug type. It fluttered happily then helped Ash up with Pikachu. The latter Pokemon worried profusely, until Ash picked it up and placed it on his shoulder. "We have to go before he wakes up." He stepped over the man and hurried into the cave entrance, Beautifly hurrying in.

"I don't suppose you know flash too, do you?" He asked May's Pokemon, and it frowned. Ash sighed, toying with Infernape's pokeball again, unsure of its health. He continued walking forward, the light from the entrance getting too far away for his liking, but knowing he needed to be out of that before the man woke up again. Suddenly, light flashed through the cave, bright and blinding. It dimmed to a gentle glow that only lit up a few metres radius around them. Ash looked for the source, finding it to be May's Pokemon, determined to keep its attack from diminishing.

"That's Morning sun! Brilliant, Beautifly!" Ash exclaimed, but Pikachu muttered some worried words, pointing out how Beautifly couldn't hold it for very long. It flapped its wings tirelessly, fighting the glow that wanted to implode. Ash held out his arm for it to rest on; "Here, so you can concentrate. We'll move as quick as we can for you."

"Fliiiiy." It groaned, and Ash set off quickly, checking on it every so often. They walked along the rocky surface, not encountering any wild pokemon as they passed, it seemed empty, like they'd evacuated. It would make sense, if the same noise that was torturing the Slowpoke was here too.

"Are you okay? We can take a break if you'd like?" Ash asked, stroking the Beautifly's head. It shook fiercely, refusing to let him sit down. It shone brighter, lighting up the new part of the cave they'd just entered, the whole room was reflecting with green light, receiving Beautifly's Morning sun and reflecting from the crystals scattered across the roof.

Ash stepped forward a little, earning a squeal from Pikachu, who had been paying attention to the floor too. Ash looked down, and chuckled; "Thanks, don't really fancy another swim." He eyed the huge lack that filled up the room, further reflecting the light around. He searched for an exit, which was on the other end of the lake, and no way around to it but through the glowing waters.

He sighed, realising that the small convenient boat was on the other side; "I guess we're going to have to swim after all."

Pikachu shook its head, crawling down his trainers body and pressing the second pokeball on his belt, releasing Buizel. It began to talk to his friend, and Buizel immediately jumped into the water, heading straight for the other side.

"Good! Now use Aqua jet to push the boat our way!" The pokemon did so, and the loud, deafening crunch echoed through as the boat flew right over to them. "I said push, not puncture..." Ash muttered, eying up the hole Buizel had created. It sank into the water sheepishly, but suddenly hopped in when the boat began to sink. It moved towards the hole, causing more water to gush in. Once there was quite a bit pooling in the boat, Buizel charged up its fist and punched towards the water, freezing it and sealing the boat temporarily.

"Well done Buizel, do you think you can pull this over while Infernape lights the way?" Ash eyed Beautifly, who was panting heavily and the glow was dying out. He reached for Infernape's pokemon in time to catch Beautifly as it collapsed.

Infernape, panting too from the vicious fight with Umbreon, jumped back from the pool and growled at the patchwork boat. Ash smiled weakly before climbing in; "If we sink, I promise to return you before the water gets there."

It nodded slowly, and edged towards the boat. It gingerly placed its feat into wooden canoe, and Buizel tugged with its propeller like tails.

"Pika Pikah!" It sniffed the air and hopped onto the floor of the boat, then squealed its name again in surprise. Ash looked to see Pikachu was pointing to a glove. They recognised it to be May's immediately, and he picked it up in the hopes of her leaving another clue. There was nothing inside of it, but under where it had been placed was specks of blood.

Ash heaved, practically leaping out of the boat with Beautifly when they reached the other side. Buizel collapsed exhausted, and ready to be returned, and Infernape tugged up the boat under Pikachu's command. He returned it so only Pikachu was left with him. Again, Ash took a look at the blood, finding it was smudged, but clearly May had written with it as her only means of communicating now.

"Silver." He whispered, and Pikachu's ears perked up.

He ripped out a piece of a leaflet he had been given and a red marker pen, scrawling down quickly; _Brock, Dawn. Hopefully Drew found you, and maybe Lyra. I've tracked May to the Silver Conference, I don't know what he's after, but May has something to do with it. I'll let you know of anything else with Staraptor next time. Ash. _He folded the paper and attached it to Beautifly; "you up to this?"

It nodded eagerly, awaiting the okay. Ash nodded; "Straight to the harbor, get them to come. If I'm not there, take them to the Silver Conference Pokemon center and don't let them leave. I'll contact them as soon as I find May." It nodded again, and fluttered out of the cave weakly.

Flashes of the Silver Conference ran through his head as he looked to it on top of the hill. It was silhouetted, but he could still see the outline of the amazing Colosseum. The great pillars, the huge stands for crowds...

He looked to his remaining pokemon; "He's going for the torch in the Silver Conference."

* * *

**Hope it's starting to click a little bit now. It's what I'm aiming for. ^^**  
**The Advance-ness will be arriving soon too, don't you know it. I'M SO EXCITED!**


	5. Conductor

**Important notice at the bottom of the page, be sure to read it!**

* * *

**Conductor**

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

* * *

Carefully stepping through the shadows as the sun cast red through the sky, he could see the Silver Conference arena just ahead. It was just as he remembered, without the glowing flare of a mystical being's flame to light the sky from the peak. Instead, the dwindling sunset cast an eerie red hue around the shadows.

He worked to tread lightly, straining his eyes to see even the slightest of obstacles and holding his breath so as not to make the smallest of noises. He knew this was potentially life threatening to himself, Pikachu and May, the latter two being something he would never compromise. Even if his lungs were aching to do so.

Seeing as the Arena had nothing to hide without the flame, or cup inside it, it was left open for the very few visitors who wished to see it. Inviting them with its amazing ridged columns and its huge stone statues of legendary pokemon. Even in such pressured moments, he couldn't help but feel a burst of pride when he knew he'd battled so hard in this mighty place.

He came to the edge of the battle floor and lingered a few seconds. The sunsets light, if any, could not reach over the vast walls, and so he could not see a thing. With the knowledge that he could not see, therefore probably cannot be seen, he stepped forward blindly, hoping he could find something through touch.

"May?" He whispered, which he regretted instantly, for in a moment, a burst of overwhelmingly strong fire blasted from behind and over his head, straight for the torch. Ash watched it light the arena, passing a slumped female in the middle of the stage. Panic swept through him as he climbed up the battle floor. The fire had already reached the torch, and was quickly spreading around the smaller torches atop the stadium, lighting the area.

Ash dropped to his knees next to her and crawled forward, eventually touching her arm. Her skin was cold and raised with goosebumps, but he was comforted with the pulse that throbbed under it.

The stadium flooded with light, leaving only certain areas to be protected with shadows. His eyes adjusted as he scanned the room, but then looked straight back to the unconscious girl and choked; "M-May..."

_"Darkness looms to end the day,_  
_for the girl you know as May."_

He looked up for the voice, a scowl flashing up to his face. The voice was clearly a man, but he sang his words in a way that showed no threat. It did not fool Ash, for he knew of all the people and Pokemon this man had managed to defeat. The Pokemon center, all at once... Bugsy, threatened just like the Kimono girls. All of them had large amounts of skill between them, and he still managed to walk away with May.

He spotted a large figure, silhouetted by the fire. It was too large to be that of a man, but the voice had definitely come from that direction.

"What have you done to her!" Ash shouted bravely to the advancing shadow. It cackled quietly before shouting back.

_"Not to fear, death hath not sprang,_  
_I sought not her but the bell she rang."_

"What bell? Enough of the riddles! Battle me!" Ash growled_, _irritated by the empty clues.

_"Not riddles young child, but words through song.  
I'll let you run now, but not for long.  
Leave the girl, for you'll run in vain,  
She knows of the object I next wish to obtain."_

"I'll never leave her, show yourself!" He roared back, stepping between the shadow and May, to protect her unconscious body.

"Pika-cha!" His tiny mouse pokemon agreed, preparing to battle by standing in front of its trainer on all fours, prepared to spring.

Words did not reply, but on bell chimed twice. The shadow split, and Ash realised it was a huge bird pokemon behind one man. The bird flew forward, revealing itself in the light.

"Ho-oh!" Ash exclaimed, sudden excitement and fear rushing through him like adrenaline through his veins. Music, soft and airy, began to play in quick, staccato sounds. Ho-oh released a flame on its command.

Pikachu sprang into action, fearing its friends' lives as it rolled forward in the air, slamming a shiny, lightning bolt tail into the flames. It split the fire either side, spreading to burn the ground on either side of Ash and May.

Ho-oh eventually stopped firing and swooped with glowing wings.

"Thunder!" Ash roared as he hoisted his fainted friend over his shoulder. Pikachu did as told, but merely angered the legendary beast, who turned to ascend the sky, then began to turn. They did not wait to see what attack it was performing.

_"Foolish young boy, so unwise._  
_Won't you consider compromise?_  
_One last chance I offer you,_  
_or I'll just take your Pikachu."_

"Time to go Pikachu!" He yelled, sprinting in the opposite direction. He could hear Pikachu's rapid four paws pressing into the ground, staying behind, ready to protect. They reached the other end of the stadium, only to find more stairs that led up the audience seats. Ash turned to find Pikachu was holding back another attack, realising he had nowhere else to run but up. Halfway up the first floor, the ground began to light up, getting brighter and brighter. He stopped to see what he was up against, and Ho-oh was charging a behemoth blue flame he instinctively knew was the legendary Sacred Fire.

Knowing this would kill them all pretty quickly, he ran along the closest row of seats, out of the light. Ho-oh fired blindly, aiming higher up thinking that was the direction its target had headed. It stopped firing and continued to fly up the stands, shrieking with agonized fury.

Spotting an exit that have been conveniently created by the powerful flame, Ash ran straight for the hole, knowing a fall was the last life-threatening outcome at them moment. He took one glance and knew it was going to hurt, but instead of making a second thought, threw himself and May down the hole. As they fell, he had just enough time to cradle May away from the oncoming impact. He landed, rolling and dropping May, who crashed into a wall they could hide behind. Ignoring the shocking pains that rippled through his chins, he stood and ran over to her, wrapping his body around her for protection. Pikachu followed close behind, sitting in front of them, keeping an eye out for Ho-oh. They heard it screech again, but further away. It had obviously carried its commander out for the non-existent chase.

Ash looked up over the wall, keeping low just in case. He could see it flying off into the shadows, the music becoming a mere squeak.

Suddenly, a rushing noise came from under him, and then a scream. He jumped and looked to May, who had sprang up with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands covering her face. "No! No, please no more!"

Ash slapped his hand over her mouth; "May! Shh! It's me!" Her eyes flashed open, swimming with floods of tears. She felt so amazing, her skin was warming under his touch, and tears ran down to his fingers. It gave him huge relief to see her so alive. He couldn't control himself, he wanted to feel her alive more. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close, squeezing her into his chest as held one hand on the back of her head. She'd stiffened, but still breathed sharp and shallow breaths. Eventually, she gasped again; "Ash!"

"Shh..." He said, partly because she'd already made her presence known with her scream, the last thing he wanted was attracting Ho-oh back.

Her arms quickly wrapped around his chest, her fingers clutching into his back like she wasn't going to let go. "I'm so scared."

"May," he suddenly said sternly, and she flinched. He worked to soften his voice, but he couldn't help but feel protective; "I need you to tell me who he is and what he's after."

She let go of him, but still held onto his hands, reluctant to lose contact. "His name is Libretto, he found me because I had the Clear Bell. I didn't know what it was! I thought it was pretty and it-" She paused, he eyes pleading.

"It what?" Ash pressed and her eyes fell lower onto her own lap. She bit her lip; "It reminded me of your soothe bell. I just missed you so much, and I when I saw it, it reminded me of you. I kept it thinking it was a sign."

Ash sighed; "what did it do?"

"It taught Skitty how to sing, she was trying to copy the sound. It powered up Blaziken a lot, I guess that's something to do with fire types... But Libretto, he knew exactly what it was, and once he told me, I fought him. He had that flute, he kept using my own pokemon against me! He didn't even need to take them off me." She gestured to her pokeballs on her waist and then continued; "I watched him take down whole parties without his own pokemon." She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut to be rid of the visions. She nuzzled her head into the hollow part of Ash's shoulder. "I was terrified, he wouldn't let me go."

He shushed her again, this time for comfort; "It's okay, we'll get out of here."

She nodded and sat up, looking at him properly for the first time, but something caught her eye, right behind him; "Ash look out!" She screamed, and he swirled to find Ho-oh flying towards them, one claw extended. Instinctively, Ash pulled one hand up in front of his face, whilst the other pushed May back. He ran backwards too, but Ho-oh just managed to slash at his forearm. He grunted in pain, and only just heard May's cry as blood thumped in his ears as well as gushing from the wound.

"Get going!" He pushed her again, shouting louder than really necessary. Pikachu warned off Ho-oh with another thunder, and nodded to Ash. Clutching at his arm, he ran behind May, shouting instructions to her; "The river! I'll send Buizel to freeze it!" Ignoring the pain of his arm, he reached for the right pokeball and threw it as far as possible. The air rushing past whipped at the blood, causing him to grunt in pain once again.

"Freeze the river! We need to get across!" He yelled, and Buizel set off in an Aqua jet to hurry ahead.

"Pikapi!" He heard his pokemon running behind, making its presence known. Ash stopped and turned, but May had too; "Ash, you can't fight him! He defeated my whole team!"

"Maybe so but I can hold him off!" Ash yelled, backing towards the river as he commanded Pikachu to attack. Ho-oh advanced on them, Libretto on his back.

"Bwee-bwee!" Buizel called, indicating it was ready to cross.

"Volt Tackle, now!" Pikachu nodded, taking off in a blinding speed as it ignited with electricity. Ash turned and grabbed onto May's hand; "Come on, we gotta go!"

"But Pikachu-"

Ash glared at her, knowing full well about his best friend; "-will be right behind us." He returned Buizel and jumped onto the ice bridge, it wobbled under the weight, but still managed to float. He carefully began to slide across, keeping hold of May as he did so. They slipped a few times, but that wasn't their problem. Music began to play, and they turned to see what was happening. Pikachu ran straight for them.

"Pikachu's under his influence!" May cried, seeing its glowing tail and turning; "We've got to get off this bridge quick!" She pushed Ash, who slid along to the edge. She then waited for Pikachu to run for her, and jumped on the ice, snapping it completely. They both landed in the water, waking Pikachu up from its trance. She grabbed ahold of the remaining ice, and Pikachu with her other arm. Ash jumped towards them, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling them up on the other side of the bank. They did not wait, for Ho-oh had already blasted fire towards them and hit the trees. Pokemon scuttled around in a frantic escape, and Ash and May joined them.

* * *

**I've had this chapter written for quite a while, but I added a little more because I didn't realise how short it was! **  
**But If I added the rest of the chase, you'd be reading for a while!**

**So finally May and Ash are together, but there's not much time for Advanceshipping to shine yet. Wait up and see, I can't wait.  
Plus, I hope you notice all the times I inconspicuously use the verb 'Advance'. I'm doing it on purpose. XD**

**Also! IMPORTANT!**

_**I'm letting you decide an important outcome to this story. Nothing to do with Ash and May, but DAWN!**_

_**It says in the summary that Ikarishipping may occur, but I am yet to reach that part in my plans. So a brief thought came to me:  
What if I use Drew instead?**_

_**So now I'm stuck. I murdered Belle-Shipping in my Ikarishipping fic, so it would be nice to do a non-anti-belle. If you get me.  
But I also love Ikari, obviously.**_

_**SO GUESS WHAT!**_

_**I'll let you decide. Tell me in your reviews! You have at least three chapters before either of the characters appear. :)  
**_


	6. Prelude

**Yay for breaking Writer's Block! I'm now on a roll! **  
**Let's get going! GO GO GO!**

**

* * *

**

**Prelude**

After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

* * *

"This way!" May coughed through the thickening smoke that billowed under the trees, finding little to no escape routes. As they ran down a new path, May dragging Ash by his wrist, it closed off with another burning tree crashing down.

"What are we going to do Ash!" She cried, suddenly clutching onto his side, fearing for all of the lives that were in this forest. His eyes darted for possibilities, and took the only one left. She stopped him before he could get far. "That's back to Libretto!"

"We can't just stay here and burn alive, May, we'll get through him somehow." He struggled to get her running, and she hesitated briefly before trusting him to get them out of this. After all, he'd done it many times before.

They hurried along the fiery path, pokemon running in different directions, tripping them from time to time. As they saw the edge of the fire, Ash turned and began running along the edge, steeply uphill. She did not question him, partly because she wasn't getting enough oxygen to breath let alone talk.

"Look!" Ash coughed weakly, his voice muffled through his arm. It stung bitterly, as the smoke tainted his three-scratch wound. May followed his eye line, noticing a bridge between the two sheer cliffs, and no Ho-oh. She did not fail to notice its edge had caught alight. Ash seemed to have noticed at that second too, for he pushed their pace a little faster.

They came to the edge of it, and Ash scanned the sky for Ho-oh before pulling her and Pikachu out of the forest, hurrying for the burning bridge. May followed tentatively, noticing the open field on the other side. They were going to be found easily if they stayed there long, and she didn't know how long she could keep running at that pace.

Ash stopped at the middle, turning to her. She frowned, a panicked expression flashing to her face when she realised he was about to do something dangerous. His eyes flicked quickly to the rope edge, the gap big enough for...

"No, Ash! We can't!"

"May we don't have a choice." He grabbed her hands, but she struggled against him; "You'll get us killed!"

Ash frowned, now he had his oxygen back, he could shout; "We're going to get caught in the field, or caught in the forest. I'd rather risk a drop and some water than getting burnt!"

She paused, staring at his hands for a while before finally sighing.

"Trust me May, I won't let anything happen to you."

She flashed her shockingly blue eyes up to his dark brown ones, bright with determination that rivalled his. "I trust you."

With her permission, he ducked under the rope and stood at the edge, waiting for her to climb under and Pikachu to climb his shoulder. He peeked at her fearful face, "ready?"

She groaned; "As I'll ever be."

He didn't give her chance to back out, he stepped forward, dragging her with him. As they fell, she clutched to his side. He pulled her close and straightened their bodies out. She heard him gasp in air, and did so herself.

They hit the surface with impact, crippling their legs as they struggled to reach it once again. Their lungs frantically panicked, expanding once they opened their mouths. The current was stronger than they'd expected, it dragged them along, smashing into their sides from every direction.

"May, May wake up!"

"Pikachuuu!" His pokemon shrieked, and he knew there was more to worry about. He looked in the direction that they headed, straight downstream. They'd caused a hazard as some of the leftover ice stood in their path.

"Can you iron tail it?" He asked as he grabbed onto his pokemon. It nodded as he threw his pokemon forward. It sprang from his palm and aimed for the huge broken ice bridge. It cracked and headed straight for the waterfall. But so did Pikachu.

"Pikaaaa!" It cried as it wobbled on the ice plate. Ash fumbled frantically through the cold water, numbly moving his fingers for Staraptor's Pokeball. It would be tired, but he didn't have much other choice. It materialised at the egde of the waterfall, ready to catch Pikachu as it leapt forward. It swooped round to head for Ash, who caught the bird pokemon's leg just as he headded off the edge too.

He cried out at the same time as his pokemon, whilst his arm ached, he held onto unconscious May with the other. He could feel the pain beginning to seep at his consciousness too, but knew he could not succumb to it.

"Raap! Raaaaaptor!" The pokemon panted with struggle, carrying two humans and another pokemon plus its own weight on its wings.

"Whirlwind downwards, now!" He growled through his bared teeth, then hissing at more pain as the wind brushed through his open cuts. The bottom came slower suddenly as Staraptor flapped with more power, rather than frantic attempts to stay airborne.

He only had to hold on that long...

May jerked awake as water touched her bare legs, she dropped to her knees in the shallow edge, catching Ash as he collapsed backwards. His pokemon lay exhausted in the water, its head being held up by equally exhausted Pikachu.

"Ash, stay awake, just until we get you out of this." She clutched his face as his eyes searched unseeingly. The water around his turned red quickly, he was losing blood fast. Her stomach heaved at the sight of it, but knew she had to ignore that. She reached for her bandanna, but noticed it was in his pocket. She took it out and began wrapping it around tightly.

When satisfied - or as satisfied as she could be in this situation - she reached for her bag and threw her most trusted pokeball.

"Blaay?"

"I know you don't like water, but I need your help." She pleaded, and her starter pokemon obliged without batting an eyelid. It winced as it entered the pool, but lifted Ash and carefully placed him in the shadows of the green forest. Meanwhile, May tended to the pokemon, returning Staraptor and cradling Pikachu close.

Though tired herself, she knew she had to keep watch. She returned Blaziken to rest for a little while, in case it was needed again. She lifted Ash's head onto her lap, he winced in his sleep periodically, and every time she would stroke his hair back out of his face to soothe him.

"Oh Ash..." She muttered, stroking his cheek with her thumb. His cap had fallen off somewhere during the escape, and she knew he would be distraught when he woke. "I'll have to buy you a new one." She whispered, her fingers running through his thick, wet hair that had stuck to his face. He flinched away from her hand, but did not wake. Instead he coiled his body around his arm, grunting in pain every time it touched something.

She sighed; "I'm so sorry..." She told him again and again, tears finally beginning to show now the adrenaline had taken everything else out of her. "This is my fault... I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Her cries became incoherent as she lifted his head onto her shoulder, rocking him gently as she cried into his hair; "I shouldn't have sent the letter..." She concluded; "I knew you'd worry. I knew I shouldn't, but I wanted you to come."

He winced away from her voice, leaving her lips by his forehead. She kissed it gently; "You're golden hearted Ash, I'd give anything to take the pain away." She closed her eyes and placed her forehead to his, her tears silently dripping down her nose to his face.

* * *

She woke abruptly to the familiar sound of Ash's awakening grunt. It didn't sound like the many pain-protesting noises he'd made through the night. It soothed her greatly to hear him feeling normal again. She opened her eyes to find the noise was closer than her ears had picked up, for her ear was rested on his chest, his wounded arm wrapped lightly over her so it wasn't touching the floor. Being tired, she concentrated on not jerking his arm as she lifted her head to face him.

He was staring at her with wide, sleepy eyes, a blush had crept into his cheeks. She smiled weakly. "Morning" she croaked.

He groaned and sat up, forcing her to too.

"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly, taking his hand so she could check the cuts. From what she knew, if the cuts were well wrapped, his system should have begun to block the wound ready for repair.

"I've felt better." He grunted, hissing as she gently began to unwrap her bandanna."You didn't have to use your new bandanna." He chuckled weakly. But she shook her head; "I prefered my red one anyway, you didn't have to dye it."

He laughed, though short, it was genuine and bright.

She gasped as his arm became revealed, she'd seen three cuts, but now his arm wasn't entirely covered in blood, she could see them far better. One had slashed across the side of his wrist, which thankfully didn't hold any major veins there. It was the lightest cut of the three. At the other end of his arm, straight across his elbow, was another that was deep, but nothing that wouldn't heal quickly. It was the middle one, obviously the claw that got closest to him, that cut straight through the skin in the middle of his forearm, and the skin's edge was bright red.

May felt herself tear up again a little.

"It's okay May..." Ash muttered. He moved his other hand up to hold her shoulder, but she shrugged away; "I shouldn't have done this to you." She sighed, looking away from him.

"Hey!" He said fiercely, it startled May into looking; "you didn't ask me to come. You asked for Drew remember?"

She shrugged; "I _said_ that, but..."

"But nothing, I chose to come and find you. I'm just glad I got you out of there."

"But-" She gasped; "What happened to your battle?"

He shrugged; "Doesn't matter."

Her eyes widened back, "Yes it does Ash! You gave up the Sinnoh league for me?" She suddenly felt horribly selfish, more so than the night before. She collided into him, hugging him tightly; "You shouldn't have done that, Ash! This is your dream!"

She felt his better arm wrap tightly around her as he whispered; "You're are more important than trophies."

"Ash, I wanted _you_ to come." She sighed into his ear, and she felt him stiffen. He pushed her away by her waist so he could see her face. He studied her carefully, her eyes were bright and genuine. He grinned; "You do realise I am never letting you out of my sight now. You're a danger magnet."

She giggled; "I'd like that."

* * *

**So I hint at you to look at the chapter title once again. **  
**Now look at the 'fic title.**  
**Now put two and two together and tell me what you think. ^^**


	7. Adagietto

**Adagietto**

Better to let is pass than stumble over your next note.

* * *

"Well this is weird." May laughed as they walked down a small forest path. It wasn't on a route, but Ash knew they'd get to a city a lot quicker than walking around it. There weren't many pokemon around, which unnerved Pikachu, but it was light, and they knew they'd reach a city before dusk arrived.

"Why?" Ash asked her whilst nudging Pikachu to reassure it. It sighed and collapsed on his shoulder, closing his eyes to ignore the tension.

May sighed; "I've just been travelling alone for so long. It's nice to have some company." A grin crept across her face and a spring in her step made her look both elegant and childish.

Ash stayed silent a little while, listening to Pikachu sigh periodically as he thought. How could May be so calm after an attack? Sure, they'd been though a lot in the past, arguably worse than yesterday's events, but he was still shaken, and so was Pikachu.

"Ash?" A hand waved in his face, and he flinched back; "sorry," he forced a chuckle; "I spaced."

"No kidding." May muttered, staring at him worriedly; "are you alright?"

"Sure." He responded automatically, a little too fast to be genuine. May's eyes narrowed as she watched him. He stared at the floor religiously as he followed the path. "You know," she began; "it's a lot better to get it off your chest."

He sighed, staring at her, she smiled weakly back at him.

Finally, he looked her straight in the eye; "What is Libretto after now?"

"I don't know." She replied honestly; "But he wants a collection. I'm guessing he means pokemon like Ho-oh."

Ash's eyes widened; "There are so many native legendary pokemon here."

"I know." May muttered. "He only wants flying pokemon."

"Lugia."

May nodded; "but he can't get Lugia yet. He said something about going to Hoenn first, but he always said Kanto was his final destination."

"I don't understand, why would he go to Hoenn first? That's further away."

"I know he said that he was going for something that could take down Lugia. My best bet is a Zapdos or something." She shrugged, though worry was evident on her face.

Ash shook his head; "no, Lugia can handle Zapdos. I've seen them battle."

May stopped, surprised. "You never told me that."

"Ha," Ash reddened, his hand scratching the back of his head as he did when he was embarrassed. "Yeah, it's not a story I like to tell."

May grinned, and carried on walking, moving closer to him to hear every word perfectly; "Please? I'd really like to know."

He rolled his eyes, rolling off his story as May stared wide eyed at him, gasping at the horrific parts, times where he thought he was close to death. She smiled at the end, when he told her how wonderful it was to ride Lugia, and how fortunate he was. She hadn't realised how close she'd really gotten, and neither had he until he'd finished and his mind had become more focussed on the present. He blushed and moved away a little, trying not to offend her.

She coughed awkwardly; "sorry."

"That's okay." He stammered, feeling just as awkward as he had with Lyra. Closeness was not a problem to Ash, he loved having friendships like the ones he had with May and Misty, but he never forgot they were girls, it wasn't as easy as with Brock. He never wanted to hurt them, giving off the wrong impression, but lack of experience in that area meant he was never sure.

May was different. Dawn and Misty were always independent, they travelled with him for their own conveniences, for the company. With May, he always felt like she depended on him, and that sent an odd tingling sensation in his stomach like it did when he thought of Pikachu being taken from him.

"May?" He suddenly blurted, and she jumped away from him and placed her hand over her heart to steady herself. He smiled apologetically before continuing; "do you get the feeling that we're being followed?"

She frowned, automatically scanning the area; "No..." She murmured, then narrowed her eyes to Ash; "You were the one saying this way was safe."

"I know... I just suddenly got the feeling." He moved in closer to her, ready to grab her and run if a problem occurred. She giggled and pushed his shoulder gently; "stop worrying, Ash. You're being paranoid!"

He grimaced at her, but she ignored him and changed the topic; "How's your arm? Let me see." She took his hand and held out his arm across her to examine. He winced when she touched it, and she tutted; "We need somebody to fix this for you. That middle cut is really deep."

"You're telling me." He snatched his hand away from hers and rubbed it when her cold fingers had caused pain.

"Look!"

Ash's eyes drifted to May's pointed finger and followed its direction, noticing a familiar town but with new parts added. "New Bark Town!" Ash exclaimed, grinning; "Man it's been a while!" There were wind turbines scattered around to make use of the town's turbulent breeze, and the lab was expanded greatly, now the biggest and tallest building in the area by far.

"Pika-Pikah!" The little mouse pokemon had too been reminiscing, and sighed with relief as it felt the presence of a stalker disappear.

They picked up the pace at the pokemon's words, using gravity as a pull as they pushed the jogging boundaries down the hill.

"Maybe the Professor can help you with your cuts?" May suggested, and Ash nodded; "If anybody can help me, Professor Elm can."

They reached the edge of the town, and weaved through the houses to the Laboratory that towered ahead.

"May!"

Both of the travellers spun on their heels, grinning as Lyra came running from a house. "It's good to see you're alright!" She squealed as she collided into the stunned brunette. Lyra then turned to Ash and did the same, causing him to hiss. May hovered as Lyra recoiled from the hostile sound, running her eyes over him to search for the reason. Finally, they settled on his arm as he hunched around it.

"Oh Ash! What happened? See, I knew I should have come with you, this never would have happened! You know what they say, travel in numbers! We need to get you to Professor Elm-"

"Lyra!" May complained, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Could you fetch the Professor for us?"

The Johto girl nodded; "He's in the tall grass at the moment, I'll go fetch him. You head straight for the lab."

The two travellers nodded, and they split separate ways.

"You know Lyra?" May's eyebrow rose as she eyed his reaction.

Ash, who had immediately blushed at his most recent memory of Lyra, nodded back; "she came to Sinnoh and gave Dawn her Cyndaquil."

"Uh-huh." May's eyes narrowed, but she took his damaged hand gently and led him for the huge building.

They reached the building, and the glass doors swung aside for them, then closed as soon as they'd passed. Ash's eyes wandered around the room, much was the same as he remembered, but there were new parts that he couldn't recognise. A faint murmur of computer's whirring and beeping echoed down the corridors, but all was quiet aside from that. A receptionist looked up from her desk and frowned; "You're not a starting trainer." She pointedly stared at Pikachu.

Ash shook his head; "I've been sent here to see Professor Elm."

"He's not in at the moment-"

"Ah, Ash! Good to see you!"

Ash turned to a grinning man in a white lab coat. He was tall with gangly limbs and large glasses, his hair gelled up into a big quiff. "Hello Professor, this is May."

"Lovely to meet you at last May." Elm held out his hand, to which the young girl politely took while she frowned at him in confusion. He smiled and explained; "I've seen you quite a bit on the television. I knew I recognised your battle tactics."

May blushed as her eyes flickered to Ash and back; "I haven't travelled with Ash for a while now, but his training certainly rubbed off on my technique." In the corner of her eye, she saw Ash beam as he scratched his head in embarrassment. Lyra clicked her fingers; "Of course! Ash and Dawn told me about an old coordinator friend! I didn't realise it was actually you, May!"

"I met May after I left the Johto region." Ash informed them; "She's from Hoenn." Elm's eyes lit up as he hissed "fascinating" in awe. Lyra finally perked up; "Professor, Ash's arm?" She prompted. Elm's eyes widened and shot straight to his arms. Ash had begun to coil around himself, the pain becoming more prominent. Of course, he wasn't one to complain, and was too polite to interrupt Elm's rantings.

"This way." Elm had sobered up quickly, and had turned into a parental, caring elder. He sat Ash down and set the two girls on the other side of the room to talk quietly. He flicked a bright light on by Ash's arm and set to work checking the wounds.

"I may be a Pokemon Professor, but I'm a qualified doctor too. I had to take human biology and psychology in order to understand the influence humans have on pokemon." Elm murmured in an attempt to distract Ash. Unfortunately, it wasn't working as Ash hissed away every time a sore spot was touched.

"I thought you didn't like science on human-pokemon relationships?" Ash retorted, sarcasm dripping through his voice bitterly in revenge to Elm causing him pain.

Elm's eyes flickered to Ash's face, then back to his hovering fingers; "Pokemon are unique, and therefore develop different abilities depending on their environment. Of course relationships between trainer and pokemon can affect growth. It's something I have to study if I want to understand as much as I possibly can."

Ash heard Lyra whisper something along the lines of; "here he goes again..." and May giggled, but Elm interrupted with his passionate speech that Ash wished he hadn't started.

"Take your Pikachu for example, no other Pikachu is quite like yours, right?" By this point, the Pokemon in question had perked up and sat on Ash's shoulder to listen. Ash nodded to his yellow friend; "I get it, nobody loves Pikachu like I do."

"Pika, Pika-pi." Ash smiled, understanding the message Pikachu was trying to convey in its extremely limited human language.

"Fascinating." Elm muttered again, staring at the two intently, "it's like you know what Pikachu is saying."

Ash grinned; "there are certain things Pikachu says that I've managed to translate over the years. Like my name is:"

"Pika-Pi."

Elm gasped in surprise, standing up abruptly; "This is incredible! A real breakthrough for Pokemon abilities. How exciting! Sure, psychic types can talk fluent human, but your Pikachu has quite the talent."

"You never met Meowth then..."

The Professor wasn't listening, he'd begun ranting and walked out of the room chuntering under his breath about the brilliant possibilities. Ash went to stand and follow, but taking a look at his arm, Elm had managed to distract him enough to not realise his arm was fully bandaged and barely hurting any more. Stretching his aching limbs, he turned to May and Lyra; "I guess we ought to find the others."

May nodded, but Lyra giggled; "Already sorted, actually. I called them as soon as you left me the other day and told them to meet me here. They should be here today or tomorrow."

Ash nodded and thanked her, and they left the lab without bothering to say goodbye to Elm who would now be oblivious to the world as he studied.

* * *

"May? Are you awake?"

A stifled groan from the other side of the room indicated she was now. Ash whispered again sheepishly; "sorry. Just go back to sleep."

"What's wrong, Ash?"

He could see her silhouette sit up, a mass blob of a baggy t-shirt and loose wavy hair flowing down her back. He didn't reply for a while, unsure what was actually wrong with him.

"Does your arm hurt?" She suggested, and he could see she'd stood up to move closer.

He shook his head, even though she couldn't see; "no, I can barely feel it."

His weight moved to one side slightly as she sat on the side of his bed, and her fingers brushed over his hand and rested there to comfort him. "Tell me what you're thinking." She pushed.

"I don't know." He sighed; "I feel... Empty. Like I've got no purpose."

A light sigh could be heard as he breath brushed over his face; "Ash, you gave up the Sinnoh league. Of course you feel lost."

He shook his head again; "I don't mean that." A growl rattled through his throat as he struggled for the words; "I couldn't care less as long as you're safe. I just... What happens now?"

"What happens with what?" He could see her head tilt to the side.

"With us?"

Her breathing hitched and a gentle shudder moved through their contact.

"Libretto is after Lugia... Should we wait here to defend it? Meet Libretto in Kanto? Chase him to Hoenn? I just don't know the best option."

"Oh." May sighed; "Ooh."

There was a silence as both of them thought, neither coming up with a conclusion for their separate problems.

"You said Professor Oak knew a lot about the abrupt weather changes last time Lugia was captured, maybe he could help us now." May suggested.

Ash grinned; "Of course! We can wait for Libretto there, I know Kanto like the back of my hand. We can ask for the Professors help, pick up some pokemon and say hello to my Mom too!"

May giggled; "sounds like a plan."

* * *

**Wow. Late update is late. Apologies, I couldn't get this chapter going. As you can tell, this is a bit of a filler. It picks up the action pretty soon actually.**  
**Hope I didn't gabble on too much anywhere. And I hope you received the really subtle moments I threw in there. =D  
Oh and votes are still open for Dawn's shipping, Belle or Ikari. I'm rather surprised how level the votes are. I thought Ikarishipping would whoop Belle's butt! **


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